Story49: “What Happens When Two People Meet Each Other”

“Alaxsxa | Alaska” is an ambitious new production that combines storytelling, dance, and puppetry to explore the complicated history of cross-cultural encounters in the 49th state, but its creators say what it comes down to is “what happens when two people meet each other.”

This month on Story49, we go behind the scenes with Gary Beaver and Ryan Conarro, two of the show’s collaborators and performers, who crafted stories from their respective experiences as a Yup’ik drummer and dancer who grew up in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, and a white man who moved to Alaska as an adult.

Gary Beaver performs a Yup’ik dance at the Nome Elementary School before the Nome premiere of “Alaxsxa | Alaska.” Photo: Zoe Grueskin/KNOM.

Listen here or tune in on KNOM (780 AM, 96.1 FM) on Sunday, Oct. 15 at 6 pm and again on Tuesday, Oct. 17 at 3 pm.

If you or someone you know has a story to share, contact KNOM at 443-5221 or by email at story49@knom.org.

Story49: Sharing your story, your voice, your Alaska.

Image at top: Collaborators Ryan Conarro, Gary Beaver, and Justin Perkins before the Nome premiere of “Alaxsxa | Alaska.” Photo: Zoe Grueskin, KNOM. You can explore more of the stories Ryan collected around the state about cross-cultural encounters here.

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[…] ALAXSXA | ALASKA uses monologues and scenes to illustrate cross-cultural encounters in Alaska from an insider’s, outsider’s, and historical point of view. The production was featured in a recent episode of KNOM’s Story49. […]

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